Nitrate levels are not dropping

[Liam_1]

Hey everyone, my aquarium seems to suffer from high levels of nitrate
The values are:
Ammonia 0
nitrite 2ppm
Nitrate 50ppm
Salinity 35ppt
Temp between 24 to 25 throughout the day
Alk 9.3dkh
ph 8.3
And phos is also 0 in a weird way.

All of them seem great but phosphate, nitrite and nitrate.

The phosphate has always been low in my aquarium so im not surprised it stayed that way.

I stopped feeding the moment i found oht and Ive done a few water changes a week ago but 2 days after the water change the nitrates would rise again

With recommendation from my local store i stopped the water changes and put bacto energy, and today added a zeo light bag from fauna marine

I only have 2 clownfish and a gobby and its a 10 gallon tank.

The tank is 3 months old but they have been in my tank for the last 2 of them and this problem accured only 2 weeks ago

So what do i do? Do i need to add bacteria? Keep doing water changes? Im afraid that my corals wont survive this. For now most of them open up, But the duncan who has been completly closed during the last 2 days

 

[X-37B]

Hey everyone, my aquarium seems to suffer from high levels of nitrate
The values are:
Ammonia 0
nitrite 2ppm
Nitrate 50ppm
Salinity 35ppt
Temp between 24 to 25 throughout the day
Alk 9.3dkh
ph 8.3
And phos is also 0 in a weird way.

All of them seem great but phosphate, nitrite and nitrate.

The phosphate has always been low in my aquarium so im not surprised it stayed that way.

I stopped feeding the moment i found oht and Ive done a few water changes a week ago but 2 days after the water change the nitrates would rise again

With recommendation from my local store i stopped the water changes and put bacto energy, and today added a zeo light bag from fauna marine

I only have 2 clownfish and a gobby and its a 10 gallon tank.

The tank is 3 months old but they have been in my tank for the last 2 of them and this problem accured only 2 weeks ago

So what do i do? Do i need to add bacteria? Keep doing water changes? Im afraid that my corals wont survive this. For now most of them open up, But the duncan who has been completly closed during the last 2 days

You don't need anything but WC's at this point. Keep feeding the fish. The fish are fine at those levels while you adjust down.

 

[Liam_1]

What do you meam by wc?
the fish are good but its the corals im worried about. Isnt feeding gonna elevate even more the nitrate levels?

 

[bubbgee]

Hey everyone, my aquarium seems to suffer from high levels of nitrate
The values are:
Ammonia 0
nitrite 2ppm
Nitrate 50ppm
Salinity 35ppt
Temp between 24 to 25 throughout the day
Alk 9.3dkh
ph 8.3
And phos is also 0 in a weird way.

All of them seem great but phosphate, nitrite and nitrate.

The phosphate has always been low in my aquarium so im not surprised it stayed that way.

I stopped feeding the moment i found oht and Ive done a few water changes a week ago but 2 days after the water change the nitrates would rise again

With recommendation from my local store i stopped the water changes and put bacto energy, and today added a zeo light bag from fauna marine

I only have 2 clownfish and a gobby and its a 10 gallon tank.

The tank is 3 months old but they have been in my tank for the last 2 of them and this problem accured only 2 weeks ago

So what do i do? Do i need to add bacteria? Keep doing water changes? Im afraid that my corals wont survive this. For now most of them open up, But the duncan who has been completly closed during the last 2 days

Yes to bacteria. Feed reef roids or AB+ to push phosphates up for corals if you do not want to dose phosphates. Zeolite needs bacteria to seed so use zeobak or microbacter 7. Three months old and wacky nutrient levels is normal as you're building the tank's biome. You'll see it kinda stabilize around the 6 to 8th month mark. Be patient on this and just stick to soft corals and LPS and maybe hardy SPS that can tolerate high nutrients for the time being.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

You have a high bioload in that tank, do you have enough filtration to keep up with that? What type of filtration do you have? Do you do weekly water changes?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

How are you measuring nitrate? 2 ppm nitrite will falsely read as a massive amount of nitrate with most kits, and 50 ppm is not a big deal even if real.

I’m going to remove the emergency tag.

 

[X-37B]

What do you meam by wc?
the fish are good but its the corals im worried about. Isnt feeding gonna elevate even more the nitrate levels?

WC water change

 

[X-37B]

Hey everyone, my aquarium seems to suffer from high levels of nitrate
The values are:
Ammonia 0
nitrite 2ppm
Nitrate 50ppm
Salinity 35ppt
Temp between 24 to 25 throughout the day
Alk 9.3dkh
ph 8.3
And phos is also 0 in a weird way.

All of them seem great but phosphate, nitrite and nitrate.

The phosphate has always been low in my aquarium so im not surprised it stayed that way.

I stopped feeding the moment i found oht and Ive done a few water changes a week ago but 2 days after the water change the nitrates would rise again

With recommendation from my local store i stopped the water changes and put bacto energy, and today added a zeo light bag from fauna marine

I only have 2 clownfish and a gobby and its a 10 gallon tank.

The tank is 3 months old but they have been in my tank for the last 2 of them and this problem accured only 2 weeks ago

So what do i do? Do i need to add bacteria? Keep doing water changes? Im afraid that my corals wont survive this. For now most of them open up, But the duncan who has been completly closed during the last 2 days

Pic of system will help.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I would not assume anything is needed at all.

I’d go back to feeding the fish so you do not risk dinos from lack of P.

 

[Kmst80]

1. What test kits are you using?
2. Double check you test right.
3. Get someone else to test or get a different test kit.
4. If you do water changes what is your source water, what do you use for top up water?

Don't just start putting random stuff in the tank like bacteria without knowing the reason for the odd reading. I find it hard to believe nitrte would be 50 if phosphate is 0, either it's a test error or you might be reading the test result wrong. Test with a different testkit to rule that out. Waterchanges won't help either if you use tapwater to make saltwater or for top up water, tapwater can have high nitrates.

 

[Liam_1]

I will answer all replies in 1 comment lol:

@bubbgee - thanks, i will add more bacteria. I have only lps and softies in the tank.

@Mr mojo - yes, i have a qq1 bubble magus skimmer, 2 gallon sump with bunch of media. It seemed to handle it just fine until the last weeks

@Randy holmes - I use salifert test kits. The tests work great, I verified with RO/DI water getting 0 nitrite and nitrate. Im sorry for putting the emergency tag, Im new in the hobby and it seemed like a huge crisis to me from reading online.

@X37B - i will attach a video in this reply.

@KMST -
1. Salifert
2. I did multiple times
3. I tested with the local shop and they got the same results.
4. My water source is an RO/DI system i bought and verified as almost 0 tds from my tds kit (and the stores one)

I only use rodi water so its not from them. I guess my bio load is just too much but i dont know what to do.

Yes to bacteria. Feed reef roids or AB+ to push phosphates up for corals if you do not want to dose phosphates. Zeolite needs bacteria to seed so use zeobak or microbacter 7. Three months old and wacky nutrient levels is normal as you're building the tank's biome. You'll see it kinda stabilize around the 6 to 8th month mark. Be patient on this and just stick to soft corals and LPS and maybe hardy SPS that can tolerate high nutrients for the time being.

I would not assume anything is needed at all.

I’d go back to feeding the fish so you do not risk dinos from lack of P.

How are you measuring nitrate? 2 ppm nitrite will falsely read as a massive amount of nitrate with most kits, and 50 ppm is not a big deal even if real.

I’m going to remove the emergency tag.

WC water change

You have a high bioload in that tank, do you have enough filtration to keep up with that? What type of filtration do you have? Do you do weekly water changes?

1. What test kits are you using?
2. Double check you test right.
3. Get someone else to test or get a different test kit.
4. If you do water changes what is your source water, what do you use for top up water?

Don't just start putting random stuff in the tank like bacteria without knowing the reason for the odd reading. I find it hard to believe nitrte would be 50 if phosphate is 0, either it's a test error or you might be reading the test result wrong. Test with a different testkit to rule that out. Waterchanges won't help either if you use tapwater to make saltwater or for top up water, tapwater can have high nitrates.

 

[Liam_1]

Here is a video of the system

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Ok, so emergency concerns are over. You have little to no nitrate. The Salifert reads huge nitrate with 2 ppm nitrite even with no nitrate.

Go back to feeding the fish, relax, and enjoy the tank. :)

 

[Liam_1]

Ok, so emergency concerns are over. You have little to no nitrate. The Salifert reads huge nitrate with 2 ppm nitrite even with no nitrate.

Go back to feeding the fish, relax, and enjoy the tank. :)

Wait what? How is that possible?
Those are 2 different test kits
When i checked the RODI it was clear with no color - so how come it tested so much nitrate and nitrite?

 

[Liam_1]

So if my nitrates are so low, how do i make my nitrite lower? Its 2ppm

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Wait what? How is that possible?
Those are 2 different test kits
When i checked the RODI it was clear with no color - so how come it tested so much nitrate and nitrite?

A kit like the Salifert first converts a tiny portion of nitrate to nitrite. Then it detects the nitrite, and multiplies back up
By the converted fraction to get nitrate.

If you have nitrite already, it will detect that too, and multiply up by the same factor, giving a false high reading. In your case, a huge false positive value.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

So if my nitrates are so low, how do i make my nitrite lower? Its 2ppm

You ignore nitrite. It is no concern except as it impacts nitrate testing. Retest both in a week or two and see what’s happening, but nitrite can linger a long time in a new tank.

 

[Liam_1]

So do i leave the zeolight in the sump or take them out so i wont get nitrate 0?

Oh my god, im so relieved now
I though im gonna lose my whole aquarium

I am ignoring it for now but im adding fish tomorrow. Is there something i could do to maintain my nitrate low and aspire nitrite to 0?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I doubt a zeolite ever does anything useful in this situation, and I’d remove it.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Fish now is fine.

What is your nutrient export plan long term?